No. 21 Gophers dominate UNF, 87-59

North Florida's Ray Rodriguez is tied up by Minnesota forward Trevor Mbakwe (background) and guard Maverick Ahanmisi during the first half Saturday in Minneapolis. The Gophers won their fourth game in a row.

MINNEAPOLIS — North Florida coach Matthew Driscoll knows the loss to No. 21 Minnesota will help his team later in the season in Atlantic Sun play.

Driscoll said the Ospreys wouldn’t face another team as physical as the Gophers, so he offered a different point of view about Saturday’s 87-59 loss, stating the games are more important for the individual matchups than the team.

His prime example: junior forward Travis Wallace.

Wallace — making his fifth straight start — scored eight of North Florida’s first 16 points as the Ospreys took an early lead. Wallace finished with a season-high 17 points on 7 of 10 shooting and had six rebounds, continuing his development as a key starter for North Florida.

“We talked about this the other day privately,” Driscoll said. “He’s an all-league player and he has the ability to be an all-league player. And when he plays within himself, and he plays within our system, he’s an all-league player. Just sometimes, like all kids, sometimes they get out of doing things at certain times and other teams figure things out. You got to fight through that.”

Parker Smith added a team-high 22 points for the Ospreys (3-5), but a season-high 22 turnovers and season-low 35.1 percent shooting doomed UNF, which had won back-to-back games. The Ospreys were playing without guard Jerron Granberry, who has missed three games since the death of his father, and forward Andy Diaz, who has missed four games with a leg injury.

Minnesota’s physical play was an issue for UNF. Rodney Williams scored 15 points and had eight rebounds, and Austin Hollins added 12 points for the Gophers (8-1), winners of four in a row. Minnesota outrebounded the Ospreys 48-35, including 25 offensive rebounds for the Gophers.

“We really struggled with their physicality,” Driscoll said, later adding: “Our room for error in playing these kinds of games is very small.’’